Permanent Joyride
by El Jord
Summary: An unexpected conversation before he leaves the Institute causes Lance Alvers to make a different decision. What if the Joyride became permanent? AU.
1. Prologue: An Unexpected Talk

**Permanent Joyride**

**Summary:** An unexpected conversation causes Lance Alvers to make a different decision. What if the Joyride became permanent? AU.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Evo, why would I be writing fanfiction?

* * *

**Prologue: For Want of a Push**

"Good thing I only brought a few things. This would be a lot more annoying to pack otherwise." Lance muttered to himself.

As he threw clothes into the lone duffel bag he had brought to the institute, the troubled mutant allowed the events of the past few days to flicker through his mind.

It had all started fairly simply, he had tried to join the X-Men because he wanted to get closer to Kitty Pryde. Since then, it had just been one huge mess. Other than Kitty, none of the X-Men really trusted him, and really made their suspicion known. It hadn't helped when Lance blew off his training duties in order to impress Kitty and continued to act like a jerk to most of them.

Really, it wasn't too surprising then, in fact it was pretty understandable given his record, that when the Institute's vehicles started showing up damaged from late night adventures, Lance was suspect number one. Lance had protested that it was not him that did it, but that did not really help. You could not just sweep months of being enemies under the rug like nothing, and so he was kept under watch.

By pure luck, Lance had stumbled across the true culprits behind the late night joyrides. It turned out that the New Mutants had been looking for fun and had been stealing the vehicles one by one. Lance had just happened to find them just before they tried their most ambitious escapade: a joyride in the X-Jet. Lance had turned around and woken up Kitty and together they had snuck on board to stop the New Mutants.

They were too late, but thanks to Kitty's quick thinking and powers, they had survived a near crash and managed to get back to the Institute in one piece. Xavier and Summers had been there to meet them and apologized to Lance for mistakenly accusing him. He had brushed off their apologies and decided that it was time for him to leave back to the Brotherhood. And then…

And then Kitty had kissed him.

Unconsciously, his gloved hand reached up to touch the spot and a soft smile lit up his face as he remembered. Sure, it had only been a kiss on the cheek, but it was something that proved maybe she was still interested in him. The thought was a comforting one, until another one hit him.

Now that he was going back to the "other side" of this little war, it was unlikely anything would come of that connection. He had gone to all this effort for nothing. For a moment, Lance's mind idly wondered if maybe he could go back and take Xavier up on that offer to stay but he quickly brushed that thought away.

"I don't really fit in here anyway." He muttered to himself, turning back to packing.

"You think you're the only one?"

The unexpected intrusion of the gravelly voice nearly made Lance jump out of his skin. Whirling around, Avalanche found himself staring into the amused face of the man only known as Logan or Wolverine.

"Relax, Shakedown," the gruff man said, "I'm just here to talk."

Lance eyed the older man warily. "About what?"

Wolverine walked right past him and sat on the bed, nonchalantly pulling out a cigar and lighter. Seconds later, he took a long drag from the cigar before holding it out to the younger mutant.

"Want some?" He asked. Lance shook his head, waiting for the man to speak. After taking another puff of smoke, the man spoke.

"I heard about last night. Looks like I was wrong about you."

Lance wasn't sure how to respond to that. The whole situation just seemed a little surreal. This was _Wolverine_. This was Wolverine talking to him _casually_ and almost _friendly_. Since when did he have conversations that didn't end with claws coming out and violence? He settled on the most familiar response for such a situation: sarcasm.

"Looks like you were. Now what are you doing here talking to me? You had to have heard about me leaving."

Wolverine just exhaled another puff of smoke, unaffected by the whole situation.

"I heard." He admitted. "I just wanted to ask you a question before you left."

Lance stared at the man. "What were you going to ask?" He said, curious.

"Why?"

The silence that followed was thick with disbelief.

"What the hell do you mean why?" Lance demanded.

"You heard me just fine, bub. I asked why you think you have to leave."

Lance immediately went for the most obvious answer. "I don't belong here. I'm not some hero-wannabe like Xavier wants. I don't care about mutant-human peace or any of that crap."

"I agree."

That brought Lance up short. "What?" he replied intelligently.

Wolverine sighed and stood up from the bed, looking the younger man straight in the eyes.

"You think someone like me, with all the violence and war I've seen, just accepts a dream like Xavier's?" He snorted. "We both know the world doesn't work like that kid. When our secret's uncovered, we're not just going to be welcomed with open arms so we can sit around a campfire and sing Kumbayah. There'll be a lot of fighting."

Lance looked confused as he absorbed this. "But…if you think that, why would you fight for Xavier?"

A smirk spread across Logan's face. "Someone's got to be around to keep Chuck grounded in reality. He's gone out of his way to help me, and it's not often you find a person that genuinely good in this world. He needs someone more…realistic to balance him out."

"I'm still not understanding what this has to do with me." Lance cut in.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Just think about it, kid. You think you're the only one that's a little out of place here? I'm not exactly the most peaceful guy around, and I'm staying here. Hell, Stripes and Spikes aren't exactly your naïve model citizens either, and they stay here. Do you know why?"

Lance shook his head. Wolverine leaned in.

"Because we all _want_ to believe in Xavier's dream. Even though some part of us may not believe it's possible, it's a hell of a lot more comforting than the alternative. You've seen what Mystique and Magneto are like, willing to sacrifice the whole lot of you guys for their own plans. Do you really want to leave here to go back to that?"

Lance had no reply. Logan moved in for the finishing touch.

"You're right, you may not be a hero, but I can tell you ain't a villain either. Sometimes these guys need people like us to keep them in reality, so we stick around even if we don't fit in."

Wolverine moved past the silent youth, pausing to pat him on the shoulder.

"Just think about it, kid."

And with that, he left the room, closing the door behind him. He then turned and walked away.

'_This plan of yours better work, Chuck.'_ He thought, _'I hate these sentimental speeches.'_

The response was immediate.

'_Trust me, Logan.'_ The wise man replied, _'Lance just needed a little push, but he wouldn't have taken it from me. To hear it coming from you put him off-guard and will make him think.'_

Logan just shook his head and stalked off towards the garage, grumbling to himself.

* * *

Mornings at the Xavier Institute For Gifted Youngsters could be summed up in one convenient word: Chaos. Teenagers swarmed the small kitchen to get to the good food before anyone else, which naturally led to conflicts. And, being mutants, those conflicts quickly escalated to using powers.

One perfect example of this would be the ongoing duel between the resident blue fuzzy elf and valley girl over the most prized of treasures: the last jelly donut.

"Kurt! Give me that donut!" The young girl screamed.

"No way, Kitty! I got here first!" Kurt taunted.

With a feral growl of a barely awake teenager, a truly horrifying sound, the slight girl lunged across the table, but the German mutant quickly teleported away, leaving only the stench of brimstone in his wake. He reappeared halfway across the room, making faces at his irate friend.

"Kurt!" Once more she leapt at him, phasing through the table and any other obstacles. And, once more, Kurt teleported away and was now hanging from the ceiling.

"Ha! You're too slow, Kitty!" With an air of complete smugness, he raised his hand to his face and…

Found nothing in his hand.

"Vas?!" Yellow eyes shot back and forth, until they finally spotted the thief and widened in surprise. Across the room, Kitty was also staring as the surrounding noise died down and the other residents turned to see what the commotion was about.

Lance looked down at the stolen donut in his hand, smirking. "Hey, Pretty Kitty. You wanted this?"

A grin lit up the girl's face. "Lance?! You're still here?"

The other mutant didn't have time to react as she shot across the room, giving him a quick but fierce hug.

From the other side of the room, Scott approached. "Alvers. Thought you were leaving." He said coolly.

Lance stood his ground. "I decided I'd stick around. No way I was going to let you of all people run me off."

The two stared at each other for a moment, before Scott's lips quirked upwards. "We'll see how long it takes you to screw up, Alvers."

Lance allowed himself a smirk as well. "Don't hold your breath, Summers."

Despite the seemingly hostile talk, there was a tentative understanding between the two young men now. They weren't going to be friends all of a sudden, but neither was going to go out of their way to make the other an enemy either.

From the other side of the table, Professor Xavier looked on with an approving smile on his face. Beside him, Logan gave an unnoticed nod.

The X-Men had gained a permanent new member.

END

* * *

**A/N:** I'm honestly shocked there's none of this premise on the site. It just seems so obvious, especially for Lancitty fans out there and yet I can't find a single story like it. So, here's my attempt. Lance is on the X-Men. How will this change the events in the coming season? How does it change the X-Men? The Brotherhood?

Well, that would be telling.


	2. Bonds of Brotherhood, Part 1

**Permanent Joyride**

**Episode 1: Bonds of Brotherhood, Part 1**

**Episode Summary:** Lance is settling in to his new home at Xavier's, but his old friends at the Brotherhood aren't going to take his leaving without a fight.

* * *

**Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters**

**Danger Room**

"Avalanche! Get down!"

The long haired teen reacted on instinct to the barked order and fell into a crouch just in time. A massive mechanical arm ripped through the air where his shoulders used to be. Unconsciously, Lance gulped at how close of a call that was.

He sent a quick glance and nod of thanks to the side, but Summers was distracted with another arm that had popped out of the wall nearest him.

Lance stayed close to the ground to catch his breath, still not used to the sheer amount of effort the X-Men put into training.

"And they wonder why the Brotherhood thought they were crazy?" He muttered to himself.

"Avalanche! Catch!"

Lance's eyes shot up to see one of Evan's spikes flying towards him. More importantly, he spotted the red piece of cloth attached to the end. He smirked. Apparently his team had managed to get the flag even with the Danger Room's newest obstacles in the way.

Lance threw a hand up and snatched the bone out of the air, ripping the flag off and spinning on his heel to run back towards the goal. No way was he going to lose.

"You think you vill get avay that easy?"

Suddenly, Lance felt the grip of three-fingered hands on his shoulder and the flag was torn out of his hands.

"Hey!"

Kurt, already leaping away, made a face at him over his shoulder. "Ha! Nobody outruns the fuzzy vone!" The German mutant laughed.

Lance scowled. "We'll see about _that_."

His boot crashed into the floor and the ground below began to shake. Lifting his arms, he focused all his powers on the tremors and commanded them to go in a certain direction.

Ahead, Nightcrawler landed to take a breather but quickly lost his footing. "Vas?"

He whirled around to see the floor splitting open and, before he could react, the ground directly beneath him followed suit and he fell in. The floor then pushed together again, not enough to crush him but enough to keep his legs stuck for a while.

Kurt struggled to get out, but it was no use, he was stuck. Lance casually jogged over.

"Thanks for holding on to that for me." He mocked. Kurt scowled and began to struggle harder.

"No, like, _I_ should be thanking _you_." Said a familiar voice behind him, causing Lance's eyes to widen.

Seconds later, he felt his arm shiver with an alien feeling as Shadowcat's arm passed through his own and grabbed the flag. Lance tried to grab her, but she phased through his arms with a laugh and took off in the direction of her own team's goal.

"Catch me if you can, Lance." She teased as she fled.

Against his will, Lance felt a grin spread across his face. "You're on, Pretty Kitty."

Leaping to his feet, he chased after her. His longer strides meant he was closing the distance fast, but she kept using her powers to phase through all the obstacles that slowed him down, so she was still too far ahead.

"If only I could move faster…" he thought aloud. Lance scoffed and dismissed the idea. Wishing wouldn't do any good. Besides, moving faster would make him more like Pietro, and that was a horrifying enough thought.

Pietro.

His fellow, former fellow he tried to remind himself, member of the Brotherhood's name brought up a host of thoughts that he had been avoiding. How was the Brotherhood holding up? Did they really hate him for doing this? Had they figured out that Mystique wasn't coming back yet?

These and many other questions bothered him. They also distracted him enough that he didn't see the newest metal arm sweeping directly at his midsection.

"Alvers! Watch it!"

Mind instantly cleared, Lance jumped, but it wasn't high enough. Solid metal crashed into his stomach, knocking the breath right out of him and throwing him to the floor with a thud. He lay down on the floor, dazed.

Vaguely he heard the sound of the simulation ending, and guessed that Kitty had reached the goal. Not only had he lost, but he'd been knocked on his ass. Wonderful.

Footsteps echoed and soon he found himself being pulled up by the arms. Looking back revealed Summers holding him up. Lance grunted and pushed himself off.

"You should've paid more attention." The other X-man scolded. Lance scowled, and felt the traditional annoyance with his new teammate flare up.

"Don't tell me what to do, Summers." He snarled, causing Scott to frown and narrow his eyes. He opened his mouth to reprimand the other when-

"Lance!"

Out of nowhere, two small arms wrapped around Lance's torso, followed by the crash of someone else's weight into his back. Lance winced in pain.

"You ok? You were right behind me and the next thing I know you were hit by that big arm and it knocked you down and it looked like it really hurt and that makes it my fault for distracting you and…"

Lance turned around and cut her off. "I'm fine, Kit." He smiled, not letting any pain show, "Just a scratch."

Kitty smiled in relief and gave him another squeeze, causing Lance to let slip a hiss of pain. Realizing he was lying, the younger girl narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. Lance gulped and waited for what was coming.

Thankfully, Wolverine showed up. Wow, now that was a thought he never saw coming.

The short but powerful mutant looked him over and nodded to himself. Then he tapped Lance's ribs and Lance hissed again.

"Bruised ribs, probably." Logan said, "Rocky, go to the infirmary." Lance opened his mouth. "Half-Pint, make sure he goes there."

Kitty nodded and dragged the protesting teen away, and Logan turned to the other young mutants.

"Training's done." Logan said, "Now get out of here, before I change my mind."

With barely concealed joy at not being stuck in the Danger Room for another hour as planned, the X-Men quickly dispersed. Professor Xavier soon wheeled himself over.

"Your evaluation of our newest member, Logan?" The Professor asked kindly.

The Professor often asked for Logan's judgments in these matters. While Xavier had always known that fighting would, regrettably, be a necessity as long as mutants like Magneto and Mystique tried to push open war, he had never himself been a fighter. Knowing that fighting was needed and actually fighting were two different things, and Xavier, always a man of peace, often did not have the strategic planning necessary in combat. Logan, however, did, which made him an invaluable resource in the X-Men.

"It was a mistake to take him out of the New Mutants so fast." Logan said harshly.

Xavier's eyebrow piqued. "Why do you say that, old friend?"

Logan pulled out a cigar and lit it, ignoring the disapproval on the Professor's face, before responding. "He doesn't take this training seriously. He treats it all like a game, lets himself get distracted and doesn't know how to use his powers correctly."

Xavier shot him a questioning look.

"Don't get me wrong, the kid has pretty good control over his powers, but he's used to using them in a different way. When he was with the Brotherhood it was all about destruction on a wider scale, taking out many adversaries at once with no thought to his environment, not a focused and controlled attack. An X-Man can't think like that, or else we'll cause more damage than we stop. Something needs to break him out of his old habits with his powers or he's a disaster in the making." Logan explained.

Xavier hummed in agreement. "I suppose you're right, Logan. However, we can't just push him back to the New Mutants, he'd never accept it. The boy is proud, and would probably see it as enough of an insult to leave again."

Logan sighed. "I know, Chuck. We can't let him go back to the Brotherhood, but I'm not sure he's real X-Man material yet."

Charles steeped his fingers in front of his face. "Yes, the Brotherhood…"

Beside him, Logan waited for his explanation to finish.

"I try not to delve into their minds, but with the way Lance is broadcasting them, it's hard to ignore. His thoughts keep turning towards the Brotherhood."

"He wants to go back to his old friends." It was a statement, not a question.

"In some ways." Charles confirmed, "I don't think, however, that Lance will unless we give him reason to. Still, it is clear that he and the Brotherhood had a deep connection that was most likely not severed by his change in sides."

Logan's eyes looked over some of the ruined obstacles in the room. "Meaning sooner or later something's got to give."

Charles closed his eyes. "Yes. I cannot help but feel that Lance and the Brotherhood are not yet willing to let each other go just yet. A confrontation is inevitable."

He sighed.

"I must confess, though, that I have no idea what the result of such a confrontation will be."

* * *

**Infirmary, One Hour Later**

"I'm telling you, I'm fine." Lance complained from his bed.

Hank McCoy, sometimes known as Beast, chuckled at the newest claim from the young man.

"For the most part, yes, Mr. Alvers. However, you did bruise a few ribs in that exercise, so it's only cautionary that you relax for a little while." Dr. McCoy assured him. Lance rolled his eyes, but kept silent. For now.

Suddenly, the door opened and Logan stepped in.

"Hank." He nodded at the other man. Noticing the look in his colleague's eye, Hank stood up.

"Well, I could use a quick snack. Logan, would you mind supervising for a little while?" Without waiting for an answer, the good doctor casually walked out of the infirmary, leaving Logan and Lance alone.

For a while, everything was silent.

"What do you want?" Lance asked tiredly, "Here to give me crap like Summers?" Inwardly, Lance rolled his eyes, this is the part where he would try to assure him he wasn't and then say the exact thing Summers did in slightly different terms. It was always what they-

"Yes."

Lance blinked. Well, that was frank. If Logan noticed his surprise, he didn't react. The older man simply grabbed a chair nearby and spun it around so he was sitting with his arms crossed over the top of the chair's back and facing Lance.

"You need to keep your head straight, Rocky. If that would've been a real battle you would have been taken out completely, and the team would've been that much worse off."

Lance didn't respond, but he couldn't meet the other mutant's eyes either. He hadn't thought about the team, really, just catching up to Kitty. Not that he'd admit that any time soon.

Noticing Lance's reaction, Logan pressed on. "Whatever's distracting you, kid, you need to sort it out. Next time you screw up like that, you could get hurt worse. Or someone else could."

The threatening warning hung in the air and as if on cue, the door opened again to reveal Kitty carrying a plate of…something.

"Lance, I brought you some cookies to make you…" She trailed off seeing who else was in the room. She blushed.

"O-Oh, Mr. Logan! Uh, did you want some of these cookies too?"

Logan stared at the plate as if it was a curse from hell itself (not too far off the mark, really), and wildly shook his head.

"No, Half-pint, we're done here. Now, I need to go…uh…clean the Danger Room." Then, Logan, Wolverine, the most feared mutant in the entire institute, darted out of the room like a bat out of hell.

Kitty looked confused. "Wow, I've never seen Mr. Logan run that fast before. The Danger Room must be really messed up." Turning back to Lance, she smiled brightly, "I guess that means you get more cookies all to yourself!"

Staring at the charcoal-esque husks that were supposedly cookies, Lance felt sick. Quickly thinking up an excuse, he opened his mouth and looked at Kitty. However, when he saw the hopeful gleam in the two bright blue eyes peering down at him, he felt the words die on his tongue.

He smiled weakly. "Great."

Outside in the hall, Hank was humming to himself as he walked back to the Infirmary. Then he saw Logan practically running away from the infirmary.

"Half-pint baked cookies." That was the only explanation given. It was also the only explanation necessary. Without a second thought, Hank turned on his heel and walked away again.

"Well, at least Lance is already in the infirmary." Hank muttered to himself.

It was a small comfort, but better him than the rest of them.

* * *

**Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House**

"Stupid! Idiot! Traitor!" Each shout was punctuated by another impact and the house shook.

Down in the foyer, Tabitha sighed and put down her magazine. Muttering to herself, she went upstairs to the source of the noise: Fred's room.

Tabitha pushed the door open, because since when did she knock anyway? She then leaned against the door frame as she watched the much larger boy pound away at a punching bag. On the other side of the room, sulking, was Todd. Tabitha calmly stood there, examining her finger nails as she waited for Fred to stop. Thankfully, it wasn't a long wait.

With one last roar, Fred sat back, panting with exhaustion. Tabitha sashayed over and threw an arm around his incredibly broad shoulders.

"Freddy! What's with the long face?" She asked cheerfully, knowing full well what the problem was.

Todd answered for his much larger friend.

"Lance hasn't come back, yo." The smaller boy said.

Tabitha patted Todd on the head, "Hey, that's no reason to be so down. You know Rocky; he'll be back in no time!" She tried to comfort them.

"That's what you said last week when he first left." Fred muttered angrily.

"Well, the boy's always been stubborn." She answered flippantly.

Todd glared. "Does this bother you at all?"

"Why should it? We all know he'll come back. The X-Geeks aren't that great, I should know!" She laughed.

Only silence answered her, and Tabitha inwardly frowned. She wasn't cut out for this whole "comforting" thing. That was Lance's job.

_Rocky, you better come back soon_. She silently cursed.

Eventually, after several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Todd spoke up.

"Why'd he leave anyway?"

"He's trying to get a certain Kitty up a tree." A new voice answered.

The three turned back to the doorway to see Pietro standing there, chuckling to himself. At first, no one knew how to react to this new information, but that did not last long. The others couldn't help but join in, and soon everyone was laughing.

"That's just stupid, yo." Todd said as the laughter died.

"You're telling me?" Tabitha responded, "Jeez, someone needs to knock some sense into Rocky."

Pietro grinned. "My thoughts exactly, Tabby."

The silver-haired speed demon moved closer, pulling everyone into a huddle.

"Tomorrow after school, we're going to knock some sense into Lance. And this is how we're going to do it…"

As the explanation continued, the rest of the Brotherhood was soon sharing Pietro's mischievous grin. They all shared the exact same thought.

This was going to be fun.

END

* * *

**A/N:** First of all, I'm sorry it took so long for me to get this out. I just couldn't get this chapter to come out right. I had to overhaul it god knows how many times, because I was never happy with the Danger Room scene. In fact, I'm still not really happy with it, but I wasn't sure I could get a better one soon enough, so I caved and just posted this. Then I had hardware problems like you wouldn't believe and it seemed like the universe itself was trying to stop me from posting something. Ugh. I'll try to be faster next chapter, which I can also promise will be longer and have more to it. This is more of an apology introduction to tide you all over while I get the real meat of the episode written.

I had to write an episode like this at some point, and it actually fit in really well at this point in the season. After all, the episodes in the original season went from Joyride to On Angel's Wings, which the latter happens around Christmas. Joyride doesn't seem anywhere close to winter time (and since Bayville's in New York state, you'd think that would be fairly noticeable), which to me means there are at least a couple weeks or so between the two episodes. Plenty of time for this.

I like the Brotherhood, I really do. Just because Lance isn't with them anymore doesn't mean they're not important or that their characters will stop developing. I have plans for them later on that I don't think anyone's really expecting.

That's all I really have to say. So…uh, please review?


	3. Bonds of Brotherhood, Part 2

**Permanent Joyride**

**Bonds of Brotherhood, Part 2**

**Episode Summary**: Lance is settling in to his new home at Xavier's, but his old friends at the Brotherhood aren't going to take his leaving without a fight.

Don't own X-Men Evo.

* * *

Mornings at the Xavier Institute could be summed up in a single word. Chaos. Pure, mind-bending chaos. This was especially true on a school day, as the teenage residents dashed around trying to finish homework assignments last minute, get at the showers, get the last parts of breakfast, or just to annoy each other.

Today was no exception.

Kurt was teleporting around in a desperate search for something. Outside, an impatient Scott could be heard yelling for everyone to hurry up and Bobby was currently being chased by Jubilee after he apparently pulled another of his pranks on her. Judging from the furious red hue on her face and the panicked look on his, it must have been a big one. Lance saw all this from his vantage point at the top of the grand staircase and marveled at the chaos.

'_And they thought we were disorganized?'_ He wondered silently.

That thought dampened his mood a little. It was a reminder that today would be the first day that he had gone to school since the whole joyriding incident was resolved. More importantly, it would be the first time he had to see the Brotherhood since then. While he'd never admit it, especially not to them, he did sort of miss them. For all their faults and their constant arguing with each other, they were friends.

And the key word there was "were" if the last week had been any indication, Lance knew. When he had up and left one night to join the X-Men he hadn't told anyone in the Brotherhood, and they had let him have it when he saw them a few days later at school. It was clear to him that they weren't happy, but he had his reasons.

Sure, part of it was about Kitty. Lance could admit that in the privacy of his own head. But that wasn't the main reason, just a deal sweetener. Ever since Mystique and Magneto had vanished, the Brotherhood had been left to their own devices, but still couldn't beat the X-Men or get what they wanted. Every fight was another loss, and the X-Men embarrassed them more each time. So, the Brotherhood was either losers on their own or pawns in Mystique or Magneto's schemes.

Lance hated that.

For a mutant like him, who had mastered his powers on his own without any help, the whole situation just made him furious. He used to say that once you owned the power, nothing could own you. Then Mystique had interfered and he found himself just another puzzle piece in their grand plan with no will of his own. Asteroid M and Magneto's crazy plan was the straw that broke his back. He refused to work for them again.

Luckily, the two had vanished and left the Brotherhood alone. But that only satisfied him for so long. As the X-Men kept thwarting them at every turn, Lance started to realize a few things that made him even angrier. First, that the Brotherhood was outmatched by the better trained X-Men. Secondly, Mystique and Magneto would be back eventually.

When he realized those things, Lance picked the best option: he jumped ship while he could. It was not a brave option, but you didn't grow up like him to be brave, but smart. The Brotherhood could not go far the way it was, so he switched sides.

That didn't mean he didn't miss the Brotherhood though. They were still his friends, but they didn't take kindly to betrayal.

"I'll talk to them today." He resolved, "If I'm lucky, I can convince them to join up here too."

That thought was a happy one. Lance would love to see the look on Summers' face if Lance came back with the entire Brotherhood asking to join up.

Chuckling at the image, Lance decided he had stalled enough.

Grabbing his jeep's keys from his pocket, he left the chaotic interior for the sunny driveway and his precious jeep. With a quick glance at a red-faced and screaming Scott, and a smirk at the other mutant's frustration, Lance watched the door for the one he was waiting for.

It wasn't a long wait.

Looking half-asleep, Kitty stumbled outside into the bright morning and winced. Why did the sun have to be so bright?

"Well, Kitty, this is what you get when you stay up so late." She quietly scolded herself. Any further complaints were cut off, however, when Lance called out to her.

"Hey, Kitty! Over here!"

Lance watched as a big, shining smile spread across the younger girl's face. Lance liked the look. It made her look cute, he realized with an unconsciously sappy return smile. If Pietro had seen that kind of look on Lance's face he would never hear the end of it, but Lance wasn't thinking about that right now.

Kitty practically bounced over to the jeep.

"Lance!" She exclaimed, "Good morning."

"This is a good morning?" Lance repeated, bemused. "You didn't look like you thought so a minute ago."

Kitty blushed. "You, like, saw that?"

Lance laughed at her embarrassment for a moment, and soon Kitty joined in with her own giggles. Eventually, the two's merriment wound down and uncomfortable silence took its place.

Lance cleared his throat.

"So…looks like Summers is stuck waiting for the others."

Kitty rolled her eyes.

"It's always like this." She told him, exasperated, "it takes forever for everyone to get ready. We're lucky if we make it on time most days. I guess that's the problem with only having one car between us."

Lance saw his opportunity and seized it.

"Well, you do have another person with a car now." He pointed out as he motioned at the jeep. Kitty's eyes widened.

"You're offering to take me to school?" She parroted, before her voice turned a little nervous. "Just the two of us?"

Lance stiffened. Uh-oh. Awkward territory right now.

_Think, Lance, think!_

Luckily for him, a new voice decided to enter the conversation.

"Hey! We can just ride with Lance, guys!"

Before either of them could blink, three blurs had shot past them and thrown themselves into the back-seat of the jeep. Bobby, Sam, and Roberto grinned at them, happy with the chance to avoid another of Scott's scoldings in the morning.

Kitty finally spoke up as she slid into the front passenger seat. "Well, it looks like we're full now. I guess we should go."

"Uh, yeah, great." Lance replied unenthusiastically.

So much for that plan, he thought with a sigh as he put the car in gear and left the Institute.

Maybe the rest of his day would go better?

* * *

"We're here!" Lance cried, oddly happy.

Behind him, a groan echoed from the New Mutants. Dejectedly, they opened the back door and slid out for a day in the teenage hell that was Bayville High School. Lance smirked at their disappointment.

'_That's right, suffer!'_ He thought vengefully, _'Suffer for making me put up with you that entire time!'_

Sure, it was a little childish, but they deserved it. The drive here had been a nightmare, with Bobby and Roberto squabbling and fighting about something in the back seat, Sam stuck in the middle and trying to avoid everything about that, and god knows what else. First they ruin his alone time with Kitty and then they make him more stressed out than the Brotherhood on some days.

'_Yes. Suffer.'_ Lance told them silently as he lifted his hands up to his temples and started to rub them. Just what he needed, a headache this early in the morning.

"Lance? You okay?" Kitty asked gently.

Lance threw on a small, strained smile to ease any fears she had. If he let slip about the headache she might try to cook for him again, after all, and he refused to let that happen.

"Fine." He placated her, "Just a little tired, and Bobby and them aren't helping me adjust."

Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, they're kind of a handful."

"Understatement."

Kitty laughed at that, and it gave Lance a fleeting feeling of victory, before they settled into a silence again.

"Lance…" "Kitty…"

They stopped. Lance shrugged sheepishly and averted his eyes. "Uh…you go first."

"Like, thanks." Kitty stopped and took a deep breath, "Lance, I just wanted…"

"Keety!" A very familiar German-accented voice called. Lance resisted the urge to pound his head against the dashboard. Barely.

Scott's convertible pulled up into the parking space to their right, Kurt, or the holograph-covered version of him, leaning out the side waving.

"Kurt?" Kitty's voice was a mixture of confusion and… irritation? Maybe Lance was hearing it wrong.

"Ve haf to finish zat project fur English class, remember?" The normally fuzzy one said. "It's due first hour and ve're not done yet!"

Eyes wide, Kitty cursed and threw an apologetic look at Lance before phasing straight out of the jeep and grabbing Kurt by the hand.

"Come on, we need to go!" She yelled as she dragged the protesting mutant away. As soon as they were out of eyesight, Lance turned back to the convertible and saw that Scott and Jean were already walking away. Scott was giving him suspicious looks over his shoulder but at least Jean was distracting him from doing anything about it.

Climbing out of the jeep, Lance grinned. Ok, that had been awkward, but it looked like Kitty was interested, now all he had to do was work on that and-

Whose hand was that?

Before Lance could think more on that question, he found a small fist driving into his stomach. It was a little painful, but far from horrible. Grunting at the impact, Lance looked down at the owner of the arm.

"Rogue?" Well, that was a surprise.

The southern goth's eyes narrowed, but she let him go. Lance rubbed his throat, but kept a wary eye on her.

"The hell was that for?" He finally said.

Rogue huffed. "You know damn well what that was for. Ah'm just giving you a warning."

It took a few more seconds for Lance's mind to put the pieces together. "You're talking about Kitty?" He asked, surprised, "I didn't think you were the kind of girl to get attached to people. You know, considering." The words were never said, but they both knew what he was accusing her of.

Rogue frowned. "Think what ya'll want, but Kitty's mah friend. You hurt her, I hurt you. It's that simple." Rogue then turned on her heel and walked away, but not before pausing.

"By the way, Rocky," she said, "Ya'll ain't in a position to be mad at me anymore, are ya? After all, we ain't so different now, are we?"

Lance snarled in response.

How dare she? Lance and her were nothing alike. She had left the Brotherhood the moment she found out Mystique had manipulated her and just threw aside any connections she had with the Brotherhood. Meanwhile, Lance had better reasoning for leaving. He had-

…done the exact same thing.

That realization floored him.

'_I did the same thing she did, for almost the same reason.'_ Lance thought. The idea hit him hard, like one of Fred's fists to the gut. Was he really a traitor?

No. No, he wasn't going to start thinking like that.

All this self-examination was beginning to hurt Lance's head. He didn't want to think about this stuff, he much preferred it when people shut up and got to the action. Which is what he planned on doing right now.

On the other side of the parking lot, in one of the shadowed corners on the side of the school was where Pietro usually hung out to wait for the Brotherhood in the jeep. Lance suspected that today he would be waiting for him there, so he got there as quick as possible.

As expected, Pietro was there. The silver haired speedster was leaning against a tree, watching him with very serious eyes.

"Lance." He acknowledged.

"Pietro."

All they could hear was the wind.

"Let's cut the shit and get to the chase here." Pietro finally said. "Why?"

"Because I had to. Sooner or later Magneto and Mystique are going to come back, 'Tro. You really want to be a pawn again?"

"Better a pawn than a traitor." Pietro growled.

Lance answered his angry expression with one of his own, and neither noticed as a very small tremor shook the soil beneath them.

"I am not a traitor." Lance ground out.

"No?" Pietro drawled overdramatically, hands pressed to the side of his face in a mock look of shock, "So you didn't just up and leave us because you wanted to go after a certain little Kitty?"

Lance's mood darkened a little more. "It's not about her." Pietro scoffed in disbelief.

"Sure, Lance. Keep telling yourself that."

The former teammates stared each other down, daring the other to move first.

"Pietro, this is stupid. You really want to be your father's tool again? It doesn't need to be this way, just come with me to the Institute and we'll never have to deal with him again."

Lance waited for a reply but none was forthcoming. Pietro stared at the ground, fist clenched. When it seemed like Pietro wasn't going to say anything more, Lance decided he wasn't going to wait on it.

"Look, Tro, just think about. Go back to the Brotherhood, tell them and we can put this stupid sh-"

"Stupid?" Pietro repeated, "Let me tell you something about stupid." Lance heard the note of danger and hurt in his tone, but he had no time to react to Pietro's speed. Less than a second later, bony knuckles drilled into Lance's cheek and then he was yanked back in the other direction and slammed up against the tree.

"Stupid is when you abandon the closest friends you've got for some girl." Another punch, this time to the chin. "Stupid is sticking around the X-Geeks when you know that they don't trust any of us." Now one to the stomach.

Lance didn't remember a whole lot about his science classes, considering he slept through most of them, but he had vague memories of something like "force=mass times acceleration". Pietro didn't have a lot of mass, but he sure could accelerate. All that meant was that every one of Pietro's punches hurt a hell of a lot.

Pietro leaned in until his mouth was right next to Lance's ear. "But you know all about that kind of stupidity, don't you, Lance?"

Pietro let go, and Lance fell back against the tree glaring at the white haired mutant. Pietro's only reaction was a disgusted look at him.

"I'll be generous, though, Lance. Despite your stupidity. You just leave all this behind, leave the Institute come back to the Brotherhood House, and we act like none of this happened. Of course, we'll have to watch you for a little while, since you're not really leader materiel with this kind of bone-headedness but still, Todd and Fred will be happy. What do you say?" Pietro stuck his hand out, he was even smiling, if a bit arrogantly.

Lance looked at the offered limb, and honestly thought about it. He had missed them, that was true, and he didn't like thinking of himself as a traitor.

But then he remembered why he had done it, and he knew the answer.

"Tro…I can't. You have to listen-"

Pietro's face morphed into one of cold rage.

"I gave you the choice, Lance. Remember that. Guess we'll just have to find another way to knock sense into you."

Before Lance could demand an answer about what that meant, Pietro had vanished in a silver blur, leaving him alone. Lance reached up to rub his sore jaw.

He had a bad feeling that this wasn't the end of this.

More importantly, he had a worse feeling that it wouldn't end the way he wanted.

* * *

Inside the school, in the tiny alcove where the bending machines were housed, the Brotherhood waited. They had been waiting for a while now, probably twenty minutes, for Pietro to come back and tell them how it had went. They had a plan, but all of them agreed that if they could just talk some sense into Tabitha glanced at her two co-members, trying to gauge how they were holding up.

Fred was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and trying to look unaffected but Tabby knew that he was the most sensitive of them all. He was the one taking it all the hardest, and he had been the biggest push to just skip the talk and get to the fighting. Freddy had always had anger problems, but he held them back with the people who actually gained his trust.

The ones that break his trust, though, suffer. As Jean found out after the incident when he first arrived.

Yes, Tabby knew she had to keep an eye on the big guy, because he was tense and ready for anything. If Pietro didn't come back soon, she was worried that Freddy might decide to take things into his own hands and she needed to keep him in line if it came to that.

Todd, on the other hand, looked more vulnerable but Tabby knew better than to read into that too much. She was no psychiatrist, but she had known Todd long enough to realize that he was used to people bailing on him. He might be hurt, but she was sure he would get over it faster than Freddy or, hell, even her and Pietro possibly. Honestly, she kind of admired his more detached view on it all. He had been the one to suggest just talking, and she was really hoping it would work.

But she knew Lance too, and that knowledge did not ease her at all.

Suddenly, the three felt a breeze pick up and turned to the hallway. Sure enough, Pietro now stood there with a grim look on his face.

Tabby shivered when she saw him. This wasn't the Pietro she was used to, with the easy arrogance and playful aura. That Pietro never gave the impression that he could lead, but this one, all cold and calculating, could. He was going to throw his all into this.

"It's time for Plan B." He said, and they all nodded seriously.

"Find Pryde." Pietro ordered darkly, "And let's show Lance the consequences of his actions."

Fred chuckled and cracked his knuckles, Tabby just nodded, and Todd snickered. Not wasting any more time, they all split up.

Had they hung around a little longer, they might have noticed the person in the shadows next to the stairs who had been listening the whole time after spotting them.

Rogue's fist clenched in anger as she considered what she had heard. She had come to get some chips for Ritsy when Pietro arrived and started talking. She had no idea what exactly they had planned, but she did know one thing.

There was no way she was going to let them finish it.

END

* * *

**A/N:** Again, a short chapter that I'm not all that happy with, but I felt like I had to put _something_ out after all this time. So I focused on a little bit of interaction between Lance and Kitty, as well as Lance and the Brotherhood.

Hopefully things will pick up in the next chapter and I'll get that one out sooner.

EDIT: Replaced the missing linebreaks. What the heck, ?


	4. Bonds of Brotherhood, Final

**Permanent Joyride**

**Bonds of Brotherhood Finale**

**A/N:** I've been getting a truly surprising amount of emails and messages about this story, all requesting an update. So, as you have wished it, so shall it be.

Reviews make me update faster, by the way. Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge.

* * *

Despite the earlier confrontation with Pietro, Lance was actually in something of a good mood.

He would be lying if he said it was perfect, because it definitely wasn't. A fair sized part of him was at least a little worried about Pietro's parting words, but Lance was good at shoving his doubts down and smothering them. The Brotherhood was many things, but they weren't likely to get motivated to do something really dangerous. Knowing hat, Lance rationalized it all away as a moment of rash thinking on Pietro's part. It wasn't exactly out of character for the speedster after all.

But still, just under the surface, those thoughts were still there. Waiting for confirmation of their fears. Unfortunately, confirmation came in the form of a goth running at him with a look that could kill him on the spot.

"Rogue?" He asked as the southern girl skidded to a stop in front of him, panting.

"Brotherhood's getting back at you…" She managed to get out. "They're going after Kitty."

Lance froze and his fists clenched. That wasn't possible. Pietro wouldn't dare do something that blatant. The Brotherhood was a bunch of troublemakers, but they weren't evil or anything. They just wouldn't do something like this because of him.

Right?

"Where did you hear this?" He demanded.

Rogue, having caught her breath, reared up and matched his stare. "Where do ya think, Rocky? Ah heard it straight from their mouths. They're going after her right now. We don't have time to sit here and argue!"

Lance wanted to doubt her, he really did, but he still knew Rogue a little from her days in the Brotherhood. Rogue did not joke, especially about something this serious. When no other solution came to mind, Lance sighed.

"You know her schedule," He began, "Where is Kitty supposed to be right now?"

The female mutant thought the question over for a second before her eyes lit up. When she answered him, it was with a tone of absolute certainty.

"She and Kurt had a presentation in English class earlier, but that's over with. She should be headed to gym class outside today…" She trailed off, and a dark look entered her eyes. Lance caught on quickly enough.

"The exit to the track field goes behind the trees!" Lance swore to himself. "It's a perfect spot for an ambush. We need to leave. Now!"

Rogue did not need to be told twice, as she spun on her heel and began to sprint in her desired direction. Lance trailed behind her, not quite as fast but his longer strides were making up for it. Both of them were running as fast as they could, but were well aware that they were trying to outrun Pietro.

And Quicksilver and the rest of the Brotherhood had a head start.

* * *

Kitty Pryde hummed to herself as she walked to the track stadium where her gym class was meeting today. She couldn't help that it, however, she was in a very good mood today.

Despite their late work on the project, Kitty and Kurt had passed the assignment with flying colors, easily getting an A. Added to that was her avoiding the craziness of the usual car ride this morning and the bright sunny day outside. It almost seemed too good to be true. Perhaps the biggest reason for her good mood, though she would never admit it aloud right now, was the Institute's newest mutant.

Kitty still remembered her time with Lance before Xavier recruited her and they had wound up on different sides. At first she had been understandably angry with him for using her, but the anger faded over time. Now, to be clear, she still disapproved of what he tried to make her do, but she had not been able to let that color her whole perception of him for a long time.

Specifically, not since that soccer game when Principal Kelly had first arrived.

She had gone into that battle absolutely sure of what was going to happen. The X-Men would show up, win the fight against the Brotherhood, and everyone would go home. That was just how those things went. And then, out of nowhere, Lance had risked his own health to push her out of the way of that falling statue. Since that moment, she had felt a little of those fond feelings for him return.

And now he was on their side. They didn't have to be enemies anymore and, unless she was totally reading him wrong, it looked like he wanted to regain the connection they had before. It was this fact that had her so strangely happy today.

Really, nothing could go wrong today.

"Here, Kitty, kitty." An obnoxious and familiar voice called out. Kitty grimaced in displeasure. So much for that.

She stopped and turned to the younger mutant. "What do you want, Toad?"

The greasy mutant grinned back at her, showing off his yellowed teeth. He nonchalantly walked towards her.

"What? Can't one mutant just talk to another, yo?" Todd asked a little too innocently. Kitty noticed his hand move in some kind of signal.

On cue, the ground began to tremble with aftershocks and the boom of heavy footsteps could be heard. Wide blue eyes darted to the side as the gigantic frame of the Blob came tearing through the brush directly at her. Distraction achieved, Toad lunged at her.

Kitty might have looked like a normal teenage girl, but she was still one of the X-Men. Reflexes honed in the Danger Room fired off on instinct, and she went intangible just as Toad hit her. The mutant went flying through her and collided face first with the dirt.

But Kitty knew that wouldn't last long, so she turned to her other attacker. The Blob was way too much for her to fight alone, especially considering her power wasn't designed for fighting, which meant she would have to dodge a lot. More worrisome was that both of them had attacked her out of the blue. The Brotherhood rarely struck out on its own. If these two had attacked her, it was only a matter of time before the others showed up.

If that happened, then she would lose.

"Get over here, Pryde!" Fred bellowed as he charged her. Kitty's eyes desperately flitted side to side as a plan started to form in her mind. With no other options, she put her plan into action.

"No one can escape the-huh?" Fred stared dumbly as the slight frame of the girl hurtled towards him in a suicidal charge. Naturally, he slowed down a bit, because the plan required her in one piece after all. That was just what Kitty was hoping for, though.

Even as the larger mutant slowed down, Kitty sped up, and dove through him with her powers. Fred shuddered at the alien sensation, and slid to a delayed halt. When he turned around, the smaller girl was nowhere to be found. Fred ground his teeth in anger.

"You think you can hide from us?" He roared. "You'll pay, Pryde!"

"Do you take debit?" Fred turned to his right to see Kitty peeking out from behind a tree. "Because, like, I don't get much of an allowance."

Steam nearly escaped from his ears as Fred let loose another roar and charged the tree that sheltered her. Consumed by his rage, he didn't notice one crucial detail until it was almost too late.

"Todd!" He exclaimed in shock.

The dirty mutant was lying slumped against the tree he was charging at, and Fred's feet scrambled for purchase on the ground to stop. In any other situation, he might have succeeded, except for one crucial detail.

With a piercing whistle, one of the branches whipped out from the side of the tree and smacked into the side of Fred's head. His size meant he barely felt it, but it served just fine as a distraction.

All his control gone, the Blob crashed into the tree, causing it to sway with the impact. He had barely missed his comrade, but the positioning had smashed his back against the trunk. Not even the Blob could shrug off that kind of impact.

Kitty phased out of her hiding place and breathed a sigh of relief. Even she would admit that was more luck than anything else.

"I need to get out of here, now. I need to get Scott and the others." She said to herself. Kitty turned and ran towards the edge of the tree line, but she didn't get far as a silver blur blindsided her.

"Agh!" She exclaimed as she was knocked to the ground. Stars filled her vision, and when they finally cleared, she stared up into the sneering face of Pietro Maximoff.

"Hey, Pretty Kitty." Pietro mocked. "We've been looking for you. It's not nice of you to attack us like that when we just want to talk." Dazed though she might be, even Kitty picked up the threat that underlined the 'talk' in that sentence. Kitty felt dread fill her and tried to push herself up when someone else entered the scene.

"Too bad being an X-Man doesn't mean being nice!" Lance yelled from about fifty feet away. The long-haired mutant slammed his foot into the ground, creating a new quake that knocked Kitty back to the ground and knocked Pietro off-balance.

"Lance!" Kitty exclaimed in belief.

Pietro glared back. "Well, look who came running to the rescue."

"He didn't come alone, sugar."

Kitty looked up. "Rogue!"

Pietro's head whipped around just in time to get an ungloved hand from Rogue to his face. The energy drained from him, and Pietro fell back and glared at him. Lance wasted no time in running to Kitty and gently helping her up. Kitty winced and favored her side. Behind them, Rogue watched with a slightly approving look before turning back to the fallen Brotherhood member.

"You lose, Pietro." Rogue said sternly. "This fight is over."

A weak smile slithered across Pietro's face. "I don't think so, Roguey. Aren't you forgetting somebody?"

Right on cue, several glowing orbs landed between them.

"Shit! Tabby!" Lance remembered, but it was too late.

Eyes wide, Rogue leapt back, but even with her newly enhanced speed, she didn't quite clear the explosion. The sudden rush of air was deafening as she was thrown backwards. The dirt thrown into the air and the smoke that followed blinded them for a few seconds. When their vision cleared, Pietro, Todd, and even Fred were gone.

"Where did they…" Lance began, when Todd appeared out of nowhere and crashed into him, sending him sprawling. At the same moment, Fred exploded out of the smoke and tried to hit Rogue, but the energy absorbing mutant dodged out of the way.

"Ah'm way too fast for you, Freddy." She huffed.

"But not as fast as the original!" Pietro yelled as he appeared next to her in a blur and grabbedher by the shoulder. The silver-haired mutant wrenched her around and then delivered a fierce fist to the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

Kitty limped over to help her friend. "Rogue!" She cried.

"Sorry, Pryde, but you aren't going any further." Kitty turned to meet the serious, if pitying eyes of Tabby.

"Why are you doing this?" She demanded. The blonde sighed, but ignited five charges in her hand.

"We're sending Lance a message. You're just the best way to do it." Her eyes looked down. "I did say I'm sorry, but this is the only option we have now."

Throwing the explosives down, Kitty clenched her eyes shut as dirt went flying, but it was just another distraction. Two burly arms grabbed her and, despite her struggling, lifted her off the ground.

"I've got her!" Fred yelled over the battle. In response, all the members of the Brotherhood broke off their own fights and retreated to him. Pietro made sure to hit Rogue once more to keep her down before leaving.

Lance pushed himself up and glared at his former comrades. "No." He ground out through his clenched teeth. "NO!"

Gloved fists punched the ground and Lance's brow furrowed. He pushed all his energy into the earth and called up a massive quake in the direction of the Brotherhood. It was so powerful that cracks started to appear in the earth near him and branching out. Everything around them was shaking.

The Brotherhood staggered, barely able to keep their balance. Lance felt a vicious sense of victory fill him as Todd and Tabby fell off their feet. If he just focused a little longer, he'd take them all down.

But fate had other plans.

From her spot of captivity, Kitty's eyes widened in horror. "LANCE!" She screamed desperately, "The tree!"

Lance's eyes quickly followed her sight and his insides froze like ice. The fissure had expanded, and was now rattling the massive tree that shadowed Rogue's prone form. He watched in horror as the roots on one side began to push out, and the tree tipped.

"No…" He breathed. He immediately stopped pushing the earthquake and reached out with his mind. He could feel every tremor and every crack in the ground, smashing against each other and worsening the quake. If he didn't do something now then Rogue was doomed.

So, he quickly shut his eyes and put everything into stilling the shakes. Every fiber of his being screamed with the effort, and the tendrils of a horrible migraine crawled up the back of his head, but he pushed those feelings to the side. He would not be responsible for killing a team member because of his own incompetence.

For what seemed like ages, he struggled to restrain the quakes, and he finally succeeded. Exhausted, he fell backwards. Darkness hate at the corners of his vision, but not before he heard Pietro say something.

"If you want her back, Lance. Meet us at the Boarding House. Alone."

He passed out.

* * *

When Lance finally woke up, it was to the sterile smell and stinging lights of the infirmary. Groggy, it took him a few seconds to recognize his surroundings, and a few more to figure out why he would have ended up here. Once that happened, the memories assaulted him. He lurched up.

"Kitty!"

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to do, however, as a lance of pain erupted from his head. Reflexively, his hands came up and clenched at his forehead. A small hand pushed him back.

"Lance, you need to sit back and relax. You overexerted yourself."

One eye opened a sliver and Lance recognized the trademark red hair of Jean. Behind her stood the stiff form that could only be Scott.

"No." Lance argued. "I let her get caught. If I had just gone after her-"

"Then Rogue would likely have died." Scott cut in, his voice cold as ice. Despite himself, Lance winced at the reminder. "You lost control, Alvers. You should have been paying attention to your surroundings!"

Any residual understanding between the two vanished in the heat of the moment, and Lance grew hot with rage.

"Don't tell me what to do, Summers!" Lance barked, pushing himself out of the bed despite the pain. The two young men glared at each other.

"You were reckless." Scott accused him. "If you had been paying attention, Kitty would be fine back here with us and Rogue never would have been in that position!"

"I didn't see you out there helping!" Lance shot back.

"Because you didn't tell anyone!" Scott shouted him down. "Dammit, Alvers, you're part of the team now! You can't keep a threat to other members a secret from the rest of us. We could have helped you take them down."

"There wasn't any time." Lance said slowly, as if explaining it to a kindergartener. "We barely made it as it is. If we had to go searching for you and Red's kissing cupboard-"

Finally, Jean stood up and both men were pushed back by psychic force. "Children." She said sternly. "Calm down. This isn't the time to be pointing fingers. We need to figure out what to do next."

There was silence as both boys digested this. Finally, Scott swallowed and lowered his gaze.

"You're right, Jean. I shouldn't have jumped at him."

Jean turned her hard eyes on Lance, who raised his arms defensively.

"What? I didn't do anything!" He protested. The glare intensified, and he broke. "Fine. I get it. Part of a team now and all that jazz. I should have sent you guys a message somehow."

Jean nodded in satisfaction and let the psychic push disintegrate. "Good."

Scott turned back to Lance. The long-haired boy could feel the weight of his eyes even through the quartz sunglasses. "Alvers, we need to know what happened before we plan a rescue."

Lance wasted no time. He carefully explained the situation. His confrontation with Pietro, Rogue's eavesdropping, the attack on Kitty, his mistake and the Brotherhood's escape. He finished by relaying Pietro's parting words before he lost consciousness.

"Now do you get it?" Lance asked, "I need to finish this on my own."

Scott opened his mouth to argue, but Jean motioned for him to stop. She stepped between them and looked Lance directly in the eye.

"Lance, do you really think you can deal with them on your own?" She asked patiently.

"Yeah, of course." Lance immediately answered, although even he could hear the weakness in that argument. From the disbelieving quirk of her eyebrow, Jean could hear it too.

"Lance, it's like Scott said. You're part of the X-Men now. We look out for each other. Just think about it."

With that, she grabbed Scott's hand and brought him out of the infirmary, leaving Lance alone to his thoughts. The question filled Lance's head.

"What should I do?" He wondered aloud.

* * *

Later that night, the Brotherhood found themselves sitting outside the Boarding House in their battle uniforms waiting for Lance. They had been standing outside for several hours now, and impatient glances were now being traded between them. Especially Pietro, for whom the wait was torture. Currently, he was pacing back and forth at a speed that most people would consider a sprint, but to him was a brisk walk. Tabby would later swear that he had worn a track into the grass.

Finally, Magneto's son had had enough. He came to a stop and groaned in frustration. "Where the heck is he?" He demanded. "We've been waiting _forever_."

Tabby sighed from her spot next to the tied and bound Kitty. "Just be patient, 'Tro. He'll be here eventually. He's probably trying to lose the X-Geeks to get here."

Pietro was about to protest when the sounds of footsteps reached them. All four members of the Brotherhood and Kitty turned to watch as Lance entered the yard.

"I'm here. Pietro." Lance said stiffly. "Just like you wanted, I'm here all alone." He spread his arms wide to emphasize the point. "Now let her go."

Pietro let an arrogant smirk spread across his face. He tutted sarcastically at his former comrade and slowly walked up to him. When he reached the boy, he circled around him, like a predator circling its prey.

"Well, well. So the X-Geek finally arrives." Lance scowled and a tiny tremor made his displeasure known.

"Don't call me that."

Pietro's smirk refused to fade. "But it's what you are, Rocky." He continued. "You're not a member of the Brotherhood anymore, you left after all. And even when we so generously offered you the chance to come back despite your treachery, you turned us down. And why?"

He turned and glared at Kitty.

"Because of her."

Kitty's eyes widened. Lance's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"That wasn't the reason and you know it, 'Tro." Lance argued, painfully aware of the expression that crossed Kitty's face at that announcement. "We were going nowhere, and sooner or later Magneto will come back. I wasn't going to be a tool again."

"So what if you would have been a tool!" Fred yelled from the sidelines. "You would have been with your friends."

"Yeah, Lance. Instead you just left." Todd piped up. Tabby just contributed a glare to the chorus. If Lance was affected, he didn't show it.

"Whatever I might have done." Lance told Pietro, "Kitty had nothing to do with it. Just let her go and we'll talk."

Pietro considered this for a second, then he shook his head. "How about a different plan? We hold all the cards here, so you play by _our_ rules. Here's how this is going to go: You leave the X-Geeks, join back up with your old friends here at the Brotherhood, and we let little Kitty go home. If you don't…" He trailed off, leaving the consequences to Lance's imagination.

Lance glared at him, and his fist clenched. That was no choice at all. He was not about to leave Kitty behind and throw all this work away. But it seemed like an impossible situation.

Or it would, if he had not seen the glance of shock and disbelief between Todd and Fred at Pietro's empty threat.

Slowly, a smirk found its way to Lance's face. "I've got a different option. NOW!"

With that yell, there was a sudden poof of smoke and the stench of brimstone as Nightcrawler appeared next to Kitty. The fuzzy German mutant wasted no time and grabbed Kitty before teleporting away in another puff of smoke.

Pietro stared at the spot and then whipped around to face the near laughing Lance. "YOU!" He howled in rage.

"No. Not just me…" Lance began.

"All of us!" Cyclops answered.

At the signal, all of the X-Men appeared on the scene, by flight or by teleporting and stared down the Brotherhood. Lance stepped back into line with the rest of the X-Men, making it very clear where his loyalty now lied. He ignored the betrayed looks on his friends' faces and focused just on Pietro.

"I didn't want to do this, 'Tro. You made this happen." He motioned to the rest of the X-Men. "We've got everyone here, and you've got nowhere to run this time. We can fight now, and you'll lose, or you can turn around now and we save this for another day."

He raised his hands in preparation for summoning an earthquake to make his point absolutely clear.

Pietro and the Brotherhood looked around desperately for some loophole or weak point, but nothing appeared. One by one, their faces turned dark with the realization of what would have to happen.

Pietro tensed, looking for all the world like he was going to charge forward and slug Lance anyway, but instead he turned on his heel and walked back to the Boarding House. As he passed them, he told the Brother hood, "We lost. Go back inside."

Dejected, they nodded and went inside, each throwing a glare in Lance's direction before they crossed the door's threshold. The last one to enter, Tabby paused.

"This isn't over, Rocky. You know that, right?" It wasn't a threat, just a statement. Lance nodded.

"I know. Take care of them, Tabby."

Tabby smiled for what felt like the first time in a week. "Sure thing, Rocky." With that, she closed the door behind her.

Cyclops turned to Avalanche. "You ok?"

Lance didn't hesitate. "Yeah. Let's just go home."

* * *

When they finally made it back to the Institute, Lance didn't go celebrate with the others. Instead, he went back to his room and took a picture out from his bag to look at.

It was hardly the best picture ever taken, just something Tabby had taken as a joke when the Brotherhood went out to eat. Pietro and Lance were arguing while Fred and Todd stole their pizza out from under their noses. There was no smiling or posing, just a group of friends enjoying some down time.

"So, you miss them?"

The sudden intrusion of the new voice caused Lance to jolt. He spun around to find himself face to face with Kitty.

"Kitty! Uh, hi." Lance greeted her lamely.

"Hi." She replied.

There was a minute of awkward silence before either got the courage up to talk again. In this case, that person was Kitty.

"You do miss them, though, right?" Kitty asked.

Lance hesitated before nodding. When he spoke his voice was a little softer than usual. "Yeah. They're a bunch of idiots but…you know." He shrugged helplessly.

Kitty smiled. "I know the feeling. The X-Men aren't perfect or orderly either, but, well… We're a team."

"Yeah." Lance muttered. "Yeah, I'm learning that."

The silence followed was much less awkward. In fact, it was pretty comfortable. The two secretly reveled in it, before Kitty finally felt she needed to talk.

"Like, Lance…" She began, obviously nervous as she bit her lip and slipped into a valley girl tone, "About what happened at the Brotherhood House…"

Lance paused, not liking where this was going.

"I guess I just wanted to say, like, thanks. For rescuing me. And well, I had a question about the, like…" She said in a rush before trailing off. Then she took a deep breath and just blurted the rest out. "What Pietro said, about why you left, was all that true?"

Lance was hardly a master of subtlety but even he understood the real thing she was getting at. He chose his next words carefully.

"I wasn't exactly telling the truth with Pietro." He began, "I left because of Magneto and Mystique, yeah, but there _were_…other reasons." The blush on their faces could have lit the mansion for weeks.

But that didn't compare to the brilliance of Kitty's smile.

"Lance…" She started, but then she paused, unsure of what to do. A light filled her eyes then, and she made her decision. The petite girl darted forward and pressed a quick peck to Lance's cheek. "Thanks." She managed to say before practically sprinting out of the room as fast as she could.

Lance stood there, completely frozen, for he had no idea how long. But, eventually, a dopey smile filled his face.

"I could get used to this." He said to no one.

* * *

The mood in the Brotherhood House was somber now. The anger had drained out, leaving nothing but a dull disappointment to permeate the air. Most of the members had retreated to their rooms to think everything over, refusing to come out again.

Which explained why no one had answered the phone.

The incessant ring had been going on for at least five minutes, until Pietro had finally had enough. "Fine!" He yelled at the inanimate object, "I hear you already."

He picked up the receiver and answered in a dull voice, "Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House. What do you want?"

"Pietro." A cold voice replied.

Pietro's jaw dropped in shock.

"…Father?" He said in surprise. Sure, the man had kept in contact to give him orders, but he was never the one who made contact, especially over the phone.

"I have new orders for you, Pietro. The time of Mutant-kind's glory is coming, and you must be prepared for the coming days. The new Brotherhood is almost prepared."

Pietro didn't respond at first, turning that information over in his head. He had known on some level that this day would come. The Brotherhood's disappointing performance in the Asteroid M fiasco had convinced his father that they were useless, and the powerful mutant had begun the search for new recruits. Before, Pietro was more than ready to jump at his father's call, the Brotherhood be damned.

But now, at the crucial juncture, he hesitated.

Could he do it? Before, the Brotherhood would have survived without him. Lance had been there to keep them together, after all. But now, Lance was gone. The Brotherhood didn't have a leader to turn to.

Except him.

Slowly, he raised the receiver back to his ear and told his father his decision.

"Change of plans, Father. The Brotherhood is loyal. They'll be useful to us."

Magneto paused for a moment before replying. "You will vouch for them? Take responsibility for them?"

Pietro's answer was immediate.

"Of course. I won't abandon them."

Magneto's silence was unnerving, but finally he said, "Very well. Prepare them for the next steps in our plan."

"Yes, Fa-" Pietro stopped as the harsh click of his father hanging up reached his ears. He carefully hung up the phone and looked back at the stairs up to the rest of the Brotherhood.

"You may have abandoned them, Lance, but I won't." He swore to himself. "The Brotherhood won't be left behind. Never again."

END

* * *

**A/N: **So… what do ya'll think?


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